Baba's Handi - Disrespect of Shrine - Kala or
Hodge-Podge - Cup of Butter-Milk.
In the last chapter we
described Baba's Chavadi procession. In this we take up Baba's Handi (cooking
pot) and some other subjects.
Preliminary
Oh, blessed Sad-guru Sai,
we bow to You, Who have given happiness to the whole world, accomplished the
welfare of the devotees and have removed the affliction of those who have
resorted to Your Feet. Being very liberal and being the protector and saviour of
the Bhaktas who surrender themselves to You, You incarnate yourself in this
world to oblige the people and do them good. The liquid essence of Pure Self
was poured into the mould of Brahma and out of this has come out the
crest-jewel of the saints-Sai. This Sai is Atmarama Himself. He is the abode of
perfect divine bliss. Having Himself attained all objects of life, He made His
devotees desirelss and free.
Baba's Handi
Different sadhanas (means
of accomplishments) are prescribed in our scriptures for different ages. Tapa
(Penance) is recommended for Krita age, Jnana (Knowledge) for Treta age, Yajna
(Sacrifice) for Dwapara age and Dana (Charity) for Kali (present) age. Of all
the charities, giving food is the best one. We are much perturbed when we get
no food at noon. Other beings feel similarly under similar circumstances.
Knowing this, he who gives food to the poor and hungry, is the best donor or
charitable person. The Taittiriya Upanishad says that "Food is Brahma;
from food all the creatures are born and having been born, by food they live,
and having departed, into food again they enter." When an Atithi
(uninvited guest) comes to our door at noon, it is our bounden duty to welcome
him by giving him food. Other kinds of charities, viz., giving away wealth,
property and clothes etc., require some discrimination, but in the matter of
food, no such consideration is necessary. Let anybody come to our door at noon,
he should be served forthwith; and if lame, crippled, blind and diseased
paupers come, they should be fed first and the able-bodied persons and our
relations afterwards. The merit of feeding the former is much greater than that
of feeding the latter. Other kinds of charities are imperfect without this
Anna-dana (giving of food) as stars are without the moon, a necklace without
its central medal, a crown without pinnacle, a tank without a lotus, bhajan
without love, a married lady without the kumkum-mark, singing without a sweet
voice or butter-milk without salt. Just as varan (Pulse-soup) excels all other
dishes, Anna-dana is the best of all merits. Now let us see how Baba prepared
food and distributed it.
It has been stated before
that Baba required very little food for Himself and what little He wanted, was
obtained by begging from a few houses. But when He took it into His mind to
distribute food to all, He made all preparations from beginning to end,
Himself. He depended on nobody and troubled none in this matter. First He went
to the bazar and bought all the things, corn, flour, spices etc., for cash. He
did also the grinding. In the open courtyard of the Masjid, He arranged a big
hearth and after lighting a fire underneath kept a Handi over it with a proper
measure of water. There were two kinds of Handi, one small and the other big.
The former provided food for 50 persons, the later for 100. Sometimes He cooked
'Mitthe Chaval' (sweet rice), and at other times 'pulava' with meat. At times
in the boiling varan (soup), He let in small balls of thick or flat breads of
wheat flour. He pounded the spices on a stone-slab, and put the thin pulverized
spices into the cooking-pot. He took all the pains to make the dishes very
palatable. He prepared 'Ambil' by boiling jawari-flour in water and mixing it
with butter-milk. With the food He distributed this Ambil to all alike. To see
whether the food was properly cooked or not, Baba rolled up the sleeve of His
Kafni and put His bare arm in the boiling cauldron without the least fear, and
churned (moved) the whole mass from side to side and up and down. There was no
mark of burn on His arm, nor fear on His face. When the cooking was over, Baba
got the pots in the Majid, and had them duly consecrated by the moulvi. First
He sent part of the food as prasad to Mhalasapati and Tatya Patil and then He
served the remaining contents with His own hand to all the poor and helpless
people to their hearts' content. Really blessed and fortunate must be those
people who got food prepared by Baba and served by Him.
Somebody may raise a
doubt here and ask - "Did Baba distribute vegetable and animal food as
prasad alike to all His devotees?" The answer is plain and simple. Those
who were accustomed to (take) animal food were given food from the Handi as
prasad and those who were not so accustomed, were not allowed to touch it. He
never created in them any wish or desire to indulge in this food. There is a
principle well established that when a Guru himself gives anything as prasad,
the disciple who thinks and doubts whether it is acceptable or otherwise, goes
to peridition. In order to see how any disciple has imbibed this principle,
Baba at times proposed tests. For instance, on an Ekadashi day He gave some
rupees to Dada Kelkar and asked him to go in person to Koralha to get mutton
from there. This Dada Kelkar was an orthodox Brahmin and kept all orthodox
manners in his life. He knew that offering wealth, grain and clothes etc., to a
Sad-guru was not enough but that implicit obedience to and prompt compliance
with His order was the real Dakshina that pleased Him most. So Dada Kelkar dressed
himself and started for the place. Then Baba called him back and said,
"Don't go yourself, but send somebody." Then Dada sent servant Pandu
for the purpose. Seeing him starting, Baba asked Dada to call him back and
cancelled that programme. On another occation Baba asked Dada just to see how
the saltish `Pulava' (mutton dish) was done. The latter said casually and
formally that it was alright. Then Baba said to him - "Neither you have
seen it with your eyes, nor tasted in with your tongue, then how could you say
that it was good? Just take out the lid and see." Saying this Baba caught
his arm and thrust it into the pot and added, "Draw out your arm and
taking a ladle, put some quantity in the dish without caring for your orthodoxy
and without blustering." When a wave of real love rises in a mother's
mind, she pinches her child with her hand and when it begins to cry and shout,
she hugs it close to her bosom. Similarly Baba, in a true motherly way pinched
Dada Kelkar in this fashion. Really no saint or guru will ever force his
orthodox disciple to eat forbidden food and defile himself thereby.
The Handi business went
on for some time till 1910 and was stopped thereafter. As stated before, Das
Ganu spread the fame of Baba by his kirtans far and wide in the Bombay
Presidency and people from that part of the country began to flock to Shirdi,
which became in a few days a place of pilgrimage. The devotees brought with
them various articles for presentation and offered various dishes of food as
naivedya. The quantity of naivedya offered by them was so much that the fakirs
and paupers could feed themselves to their hearts' content, leaving some
surplus behind. Before stating how naivedya was distributed, we shall refer to
Nanasaheb Chandorkar's story showing Baba's regard and respect for local
Shrines and deities.
Nanasaheb's Disrespect of
a Shrine
By drawing inferences or
guessing in their own way some people said that Sai was a Brahmin, and some
that He was a Moslem. Really He belonged to no caste. No one knew definitely
when He was born and in what community and who were His parents. Then how could
He be a Moslem or Brahmin? If He were a Moslem, how could He keep Dhuni fire
ever burning in the Masjid, how could there be a Tulsi Vrindavan there, how
could He allow the blowing of conches and ringing of bells and the playing of
the musical instruments, how could He allow all the different forms of Hindu
worship, there? Had He been a Moslem, could He have pierced ears and could He
have been spent money from His pocket for repairing Hindu temples? On the
contrary He never tolerated the slightest disrespect to Hindu Shrines and
deities.
Once Nanasaheb Chandorkar
came to Shirdi with his 'Sadu' - husband of his sister-in-law, Mr.Biniwalle.
When they went to the Masjid and sat before Baba talking, the latter suddenly
got angry with Nanasaheb and said - "You are so long in My company and how
do you behave like this?" Nanasaheb then at first did not understand
anything and humbly requested Baba to explain. Baba asked him when he came to
Kopergaon and how he came to Shirdi from thence. Nanasaheb then at once
realized his mistake. He usually worshipped the Shrine of Datta, on the banks
of the Godavari at Kopergaon on his way to Shirdi, but this time he dissuaded
his relation who was a Datta Bhakta from going to that Shrine, to avoid delay
and drove straight. He confessed all this to Baba and told Him that while
bathing in the Godavari, a big thorn went into his foot and gave him much
trouble. Baba said that, that was the slight punishment be met and warned him
to be more careful in future.
Kala (hodge-podge)
To revert to the
distribution of the naivedya. - After the arati was over and after Baba sent
away all the people with Udi and blessings, He went inside and sat with his
back to the Nimbar for meals, with two rows of the Bhaktas, one on each side.
The Bhaktas who brought naivedya thrust inside their dishes containing a
variety of food such as Puris, Mande, Polis, Basundi, Sanza, fine rice etc.,
and kept waiting outside for prasad consecrated by Baba. All the foods were
mixed in a hotch-potch and placed before Baba. He offered it all to God and
consecrated it. Then portions of the same were given to the persons waiting
outside and the rest was served to the inner party with Baba at the centre. The
Bhaktas sitting in two rows then dined to their hearts' content. Baba asked
Shama and Nanasaheb Nimonkar daily to serve the consecrated food to all the
persons sitting inside and look to their individual needs and comforts. This
they did very carefully and willingly. Every morsel of the food thus partaken
gave them nutrition and satisfaction. Such sweet, lovely and consecrated food
it was! Ever auspicious and every holy!
Cup of Butter-Milk
Once Hemadpant had eaten
his full in this company, when Baba offered him a cup of butter-milk. Its white
appearance pleased him, but he was afraid that there was no space inside for
it. He, however, took a sip which proved very tasty. Seeing his faltering
attitude, Baba said - "Drink it all, you won't get any such opportunity
hereafter." He drank it off then, but found that Baba's words were
prophetic, for He passed away soon.
Now, readers, we have
certainly to thank Hemadpant. He drank the cup of butter-milk, but has supplied
us with sufficient quantity of nectar in the form of Baba's Leelas. Let us
drink cups and cups of this nectar and be satisfied and happy.
Bow to Shri Sai - Peace be to all
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